Famed architect Cesar Pelli, 92, renowned for skyscrapers, dies

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Architect César Pelli, renowned for designing some of the world’s tallest buildings, died Friday at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, said Anibal Bellomio, a senior associate architect at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. At 1,483 feet tall, his Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are among the tallest buildings on the planet. Pelli’s other buildings include Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, Los Angeles’ colorful Pacific Design Center and Brookfield Place, a downtown Manhattan skyscraper complex.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s military said Saturday its troops in partnership with security agencies and paramilitary forces launched the second phase of an operation aimed at clearing remnants of the Islamic State group from north of Baghdad and surrounding areas. This is the second phase of the operation dubbed “Will to Victory,” which started two weeks earlier and targeted the area along the border with Syria. The military said the new target area is north of Baghdad and in the Diyala, Salahuddin and Anbar provinces.

GAUHATI, India – The death toll in monsoon flooding in South Asia has climbed past 160 as millions of people and animals continue to face the brunt in three countries, officials said Saturday. At least 90 people have died in Nepal and 62 in northeastern India’s Assam state over the past week. A dozen have been killed in flooding in Bangladesh. Shiv Kumar, a government official in Assam, said 10 rare one-horned rhinos have died in Kaziranga National Park. Some 4.8 million people spread over 3,700 villages are still affected.

PRIJEDOR, Bosnia-herzegovina – Several thousand people attended a funeral in eastern Bosnia on Saturday for 86 Muslims who were slain by Serbs in one of the worst atrocities of the 1992-95 war. The victims were among some 200 Bosnian Muslims and Croats from Prijedor who were massacred in August 1992 on a cliff on Mt. Vlasic known as Koricanske Stijene. The victims were shot and killed by the edge of the cliff, their bodies falling into the abyss. The Serbs later threw bombs onto the bodies, making identifying the victims difficult.